Beans...

One of the best and cheapest way's to make a healthy meal is beans! I mentioned that I love the big stores like Costco and Sam's club right? I had purchased a 25 pound bag of pinto beans and finally got around to putting them into bags for storage yesterday. While I was at it I decided it was time to make a batch. It is really easy and once they are made you can do about anything you want with them.

I soaked 5 cups of beans overnight. Then I drained and rinsed the beans before putting them into the crock pot.

Then I added fresh minced garlic. I know I could just cut the cloves in half, but I like to have them minced. For me it is about the texture. I don't want to be eating and bite into half a clove of garlic. As much as I love garlic it isn't my idea of fun. I think of myself as thrifty and so I don't like the idea of buying the jar of pre-minced garlic. I would rather just buy the bulb and prepare it as I needed. I watched a cooking show once and it showed just how easy it is to peel a clove of garlic. You just place a knife (flat on its side) on top of the clove and hit it firmly with the heal of your hand. This cracks the skin and makes it easy to peel off.

Then I just trim off the end of the clove and slice it thinly. From there I just take a minute to mince the garlic.

After the garlic is added into the beans comes the salt. For this I add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

Then just set the crock pot to low and go about the day knowing that dinner is taken care of.